MAUMELLE — For Donna Stokes, who is married to Jim Steel of Maumelle, hang gliding is a peaceful and serene sport. Her husband, however, relishes the challenge of rougher weather conditions and enjoys pushing the limits of his endurance. With respect to their differences, the husband and wife agree on one thing: Reaching for the heavens keeps their marriage exciting.
The couple met in 1990 when she was taking flying lessons from one of his friends. Jim had been flying for a few years.
“She caught my eye,” he said. The couple have been flying together ever since.
Raised in Kansas, Donna moved to Little Rock after graduating from college to accept a position working as a copy editor with the former Arkansas Gazette newspaper. She was shopping at an outdoor store when she noticed a business card advertising hang-gliding lessons.
Having no prior experience in the sport, Donna was soon training on low hills. She traveled to Mount Nebo to watch the state’s more-experienced pilots take to the skies, and it was there that she saw Jim take off. They met at the landing strip.
“The first time I saw Jim, I thought he was quite handsome and brave to be flying off such a mountain. I was just learning at the time and was terribly impressed by all the experienced pilots who could stay up for hours working thermals.”
As a child growing up in Batesville, Jim dreamed of flying.
“When I was real young, hang gliding didn’t really exist that I knew,” he said, “but when I was around 11 years old, I read an article on a group in California. I’m almost certain I read it in Reader’s Digest, and that was the first real information I came across. I just knew that one day I would fly.”
Not only would Jim become a hang-gliding pilot, but he went on to earn his private pilot license. Hang gliding gives him the most joy, he said. He also takes great pleasure in strapping his camcorder on his glider and videotaping the beautiful scenery and the pilots soaring around him. He posts the footage on YouTube and on his blog at flightstuff.net.
Jim approaches flying with competitive goals. Having taught himself the sport in his mid-20s by rereading a book several times, he admits to being obsessed with the sport.
“I’m always seeking ways to fly higher and longer and farther,” he said. “The thrill I had when I first got off the ground in my younger days is still there.”
His personal record is a 165-mile flight he made in Albuquerque, N.M. He soared for 5 1/2 hours.
“There are pretty much only two mountains we fly in Arkansas, and that’s Mount Nebo and Mount Magazine,” he said.
He favors stronger conditions than a lot of the other pilots.
“I was with a new guy on Magazine yesterday, and he got air sick. It was pretty rowdy conditions, and he threw up. He’ll be a little more cautious next time if the conditions are rough,” Jim said. “I never get sick.”
Good pilots develop their weather-reading skills, he added.
“If the wind is too strong or blowing in the wrong directions or there are storms in the area, none of us will fly,” he said.
There are dangers inherent to the sport, Jim said.
“If you get under a large cloud, it can be hard to get away from that,” Jim said. “If it’s a storm cloud, a cloud that is overdeveloped, it will start to pull you. That’s called ‘cloud suck.’ If they pull you in, you have no more visibility, you can’t see the ground, and you get disoriented. The pilots could possibly freeze to death or suffocate due to oxygen deprivation. That is why we always steer clear of storms, although it doesn’t ever happen in Arkansas.”
Out west is where the weather conditions are more unpredictable. And the extreme difference in climates is what convinced the couple to temporarily relocate to Reno, Nev., several years ago when Donna, who now writes for Heifer International, had the opportunity to take a job offer there.
“Basically, out there you have to fly with oxygen,” said Jim, an information technology specialist. “You get such high altitudes. It’s just a different type of weather; it’s much drier. Out there, you have to gauge your altitude above sea level, and the ground is already 5,000 feet above sea level, so it’s no wonder there are a lot of situations that can arise.”
Donna’s tastes are a little more subdued, but she enjoyed the 15 years living out west.
“I’m not as much into the cross-country. I like the peacefulness of flying around the mountain and watching the birds fly underneath me, but one of my most memorable flights was at Sandia Mountain in Albuquerque, and the air was smooth as glass. I got up to 16,000 feet at 7 in the evening and flew over the back with Jim and a couple of our friends visiting from Arkansas. We landed 16 or so miles downwind from the mountain just as the sun was setting,” she said. “Several of my other favorite flights are soaring above Mount Magazine in the fall when the trees are at their peak of oranges, reds and yellows, and the air is crisp and clean. You just can’t beat the bird’s-eye view of Arkansas in the fall.”
She is a rare bird in the Arkansas skies. Over the years, there has only been one other female pilot in the state, but she moved to Tennessee. A Missouri woman flies with the group at times.
“If you’ve always wanted to fly, it really lives up to your experience,” Donna said. “You really get that rush, and it really is so peaceful. It’s been definitely the only sport that Jim and I haven’t lost interest in, and it’s so good for us as a couple to share a common interest together. We get to spend all weekend together doing what we enjoy.”
When they are not soaring, the couple go to the movies and hang around the house like everybody else, Donna said. “We have all sorts of movies, read books and walk the dogs ... and dream about flying.”